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A Georgia Power transmission team working in a substation near Americus this week (10/3) came upon a swarm of bees on the equipment. As Georgia Power crews do when encountering such a situation, work was stopped and a bee farmer was consulted for help in safely relocating the colony. In this case, when the bee expert arrived Wednesday, most of the bees had buzzed to another home on their own.

Recognizing the importance of pollinators to agriculture and our natural environment, Georgia Power has established various pollinator initiatives such as the LaGrange Solar Pollinator Research Project, which includes a Georgia Power Pollinator Habitat Area (PHA) research effort sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

In addition, Georgia Power is proud to partner with Bee-Downtown as a member of their Corporate Hive Program to support sustainable urban agriculture and environmental stewardship in the Atlanta area. Three hives installed at Georgia Power’s headquarters are positively impacting over 18,000 acres of the surrounding community.

Pollinator Fast Facts:

• Insects pollinate three out of every four crops that humans rely on for food
• There are nearly 20,000 known bee species in the world, and 4,000 of them are native to the United States.
• It has been estimated that in recent years the U.S. loses up to 1/3 of the honeybee population annually.
• One honeybee makes 1/12th a teaspoon of honey in her life. A whole colony working together though can produce 40-60 lbs of honey in a matter of months.